He says there are no soft spots or delam. At one point in the video however he puts his knee agaisnt the outer side of the starboard pontoon and it looks like it flexes slightly, but im not sure. If so, is this a huge deal? How much use could i get from it before having to repair??He is asking 1050 for it and says its ready to put in the water!Nice guy, says he will drive it to me from about 4 hours away.

I'm not sure I'd pay $1k for that boat, it's pretty rough looking. At the very least, it needs new shrouds and one new rudder. Plus it could probably use new lines and possibly a new tramp in the near future. You also have no idea what condition the sails are in, but if they've been treated like the rest of the boat, they're probably pretty beat.

I don't know what to tell you about the soft spots. Between the shaky camera work and the guy using his knee, it's hard to see what's going on. I will say that on boats that are solid, when you rap against the hull with your knuckles, you normally get a tight, crisp sound. On that boat, all I heard was a dull thud when he hit it.

i paid 500 for a slightly older boat (than yours) of same cosmetic condition. as stated above, all new lines were needed but the rigging was good as were both rudders. you need to go look at this in person. check the dagger boards as it looks like this left rudder hit something hard.the older 18 rudders are known for not kicking up if latch is not tuned perfectly and regularly. don't forget to check out the trailer. that alone could run 100-300 bucks if in rough shape. it took a lot of work to clean up and assess the true condition of my boat but i ended up with a fun day sailor. i treat those race course marks like big floating traffic cones and stay away

I've seen worse boats. Mine looked similar when I got it. A bit of elbow grease, some investment on a few key components, and its now great - the boat gets compliments all the time. The point is that superficial appearance can be decieving.

There are several "what to look for" threads you can search. I won't reprise them here. Go with the fundamentals - if the boat is solid and you're willing to spend the time and energy to fix it up right, then I say go for it. Negotiating the price down for things you know you'll need to replace could be a good strategy.

Search the forums and educate yourself. Then go see the boat in person and review the basics.

If the hulls are solid this boat looks to be worth $500. Lots of stuff to do here to get Her back in the water. The bottom of the hulls look pretty good but it willbe the tops that will go soft first. Just ahead of the rear cross bar. Sails will be a big if. Ihave worked on 5 of these boats this year. contact me if you want and I will be willing to call the owner and talk to them for you.

I have seen to many people want to learn how to sail and then buy the wrong boat. Unfortunately these people can get frustrated and quit the sport. You are smart for asking questions. This could be a fun project for you if you are up for a little work.

To comment on the video, the crunching sounds when he presses his knee to it is identical to the sound my de-lamed H16 makes. I would put $20 on that being a soft spot. If a seller wont even bother to blow the leaves off a boat before showing it, its a bad sign.

Little Wing wrote:

Better than no sailboat, but definetly not a Hobie Nor will you have near the fun you would with a Hobie.

You just bought a rocket ship. The 19 is very similar to a Hobie 20, except the 19 has the kickup daggers, which It wish was the case with the 20. If you were after an 18, the 19 is not as heavy duty as the 18. The bottom of the hulls are thinner and the use of beach wheels is a must. You will have a blast, in fact anything over 18 kts of wind will be exhilarating and even scary for the faint of heart. The advantage of buying a used boat that has been well cared for, many times you don't have to dump money in it and can sell it close to what you bought it for or more.

To comment on the video, the crunching sounds when he presses his knee to it is identical to the sound my de-lamed H16 makes. I would put $20 on that being a soft spot. If a seller wont even bother to blow the leaves off a boat before showing it, its a bad sign.

Little Wing wrote:

Better than no sailboat, but definetly not a Hobie Nor will you have near the fun you would with a Hobie.

Care to share exactly how a P19 would be any less fun than a H18?

Just my opinion, I also think Hobie has the best support group of all beachcats, and obviously the premier forum, after all someone had to come here to ask about a prindle.